I can’t believe we’re already at the 8th Inning. Be that as it may, the 8th Inning Program now replaces the 7th Inning Program and its bosses Harper, Thomas and Johnson. The 7th Inning was a bit underwhelming for some when it comes to the bosses, but I think the 8th Inning brings the heat a bit more with the return of last year’s most diabolical pitcher, Clayton Kershaw. Let’s get into the 8th Inning Program guide.
The 300 star boss players are Awards Pudge Rodriguez, Awards Clayton Kershaw and Prime Ty Cobb. Ty Cobb is remembered for the collection folks had to do last year, Kershaw was the 99 overall everyone wanted to pick in the XP rewards section and Pudge Rodriguez actually comes into this with some negative value attached to him as tons of people struggled with his Evolution card at launch. I think Cobb’s raw hitting and the memories of Kershaw will keep both of them above Pudge, but there’s no way Pudge is as bad as he maybe seemed earlier this year.
Kershaw has a five-pitch mix, and the big change here from his regular Live series card is the developers swapped out his 2-seam fastball for a sinker (shocker). He has 113 stamina and 110 K/9 as well. Ty Cobb was an original Headliners player and was actually a major hassle to get out even as a 91 because his bunting was so overpowered. Here he has maxed out contact against RHP and LHP to go with 90 power against both. In addition, he has 114 vision, 125 clutch, 99 bunting, 99 drag bunting, 99 speed and 99 stealing. He’s going to be a monster at the top of the lineup. With Pudge, he’s now in competition with someone like Awards Mike Piazza. Pudge does not quite have the hitting of that Piazza, but it’s still very good, and he puts it together with 97 fielding, 99 arm, 98 accuracy, 82 reactions and 92 blocking. Plus, he’s got a little bit of speed for the position.
Showdown
The entry fee here is 500 stubs. The Final Showdown should usually be against Clayton Kershaw, which lines up with prior Showdowns where you had a boss in the player pool. The final reward is 1,500 stubs and two random Headliners packs.
Winning the showdown will net you +70 program stars. Along the way, the same general reward structure is in place but with slight bonuses now. So now you basically break even by beating two challenges rather than even having to beat the first mini boss.
Along the way you can earn The Show packs (x5), a gold player pack and two Ballin’ Is A Habit packs before the Final Showdown.
Conquest
Quack quack.
The conquest map here has six strongholds to take out en route to +30 program stars. You have to capture the Tigers’ stronghold on turn one, and you also need to steal 3 million fans, but otherwise it’s straight forward. Some of the rewards you scoop up on the way include a Headliners Pack Set 5 pack, Ballin’ Is A Habit pack and an Elite Ducks on the Pond pack.
JProGaming27 has also posted all the secrets from this Conquest map, as per usual:
8th Inning Conquest! pic.twitter.com/ZMTcICbii0
— JPro Designz (@JProDesignz) September 3, 2020
The standouts among the secrets here are the six Headliners packs and two Ducks On The Pond packs, but overall, the secrets feel a little less rewarding when compared to the big jump up in rewards for the 7th Inning secrets.
Missions
We have the two standard online missions so far, with the third bonus mission being switched out as usual. On top of that, since we have a player program at the launch of this program, there’s a fourth mission to complete.
- Win 10 games in Ranked Seasons (+15)
- Win 10 games in Ranked Seasons, BR or Events (+15)
- Tally 10 XBH online with Awards players (+15)
- Tally 8 total bases online with Awards Torii Hunter (+20)
- Tally 6 RBI online with Awards Anthony Rendon (+20)
Collections And Moments
The first set of moments is tied to the Awards Torii Hunter card:
- Torii’s Trio Of Hits
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 3 hits
- Tally 1 XBH
- Torii Writes His Story – 3 games
- Difficulty: All-Star
- Tally 5 hits
- Tally 2 XBH
- Hunter Hits Homers
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 3 hits
- Tally 2 XBH
- The Tiger Hunter – 3 games
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 7 hits
- Tally 2 XBH
- Hit 1 HR
- The Gold Glover Hits Too??
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Hit 1 HR
The moments are either worth 8 or 9 stars each and total 42 points out of a total 50 you will need.
The second set of moments is tied to Awards Anthony Rendon.
- Tony Twobags
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 3 hits
- Tally 2 XBH
- Rendon’s Got The Right Tone
- Difficulty: All-Star
- Tally 2 XBH
- Anthony “RBI” Rendon
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 2 hits
- Hit 1 HR
- Rendon Rallies For Win
- Difficulty: All-Star
- Score 2 runs
- Rendon Rises To Occasion
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 6 TB
- Rendon Takes The Throne
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Hit 1 HR
Each moment is worth +7 points for a total of 42 (of the needed 50) to unlock Rendon.
The third set of moments is tied to Awards Cal Ripken Jr.
- First Career Hit
- Difficulty: All-Star
- Tally 1 hit
- First Career Home Run
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 3 hits
- Hit 1 home run
- The Streak Begins
- Difficulty: All-Star
- Get on base 1 time
- A.L. Rookie Of The Year
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 2 hits
- Hit 1 home run
- World Series Champs – 4 games
- Difficulty: All-Star
- Tally 6 hits
- Tally 2 XBH
- Consecutive Innings Record
- Difficulty: All-Star
- Tally 2 hits
- Tally 1 XBH
- All-Star Game MVP
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 2 hits
- Hit 1 home run
- 2nd MVP
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 2 XBH
- 2,000th Career Hit
- Difficulty: All-Star
- Tally 2 hits
- 300th Career Home Run
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 2 hits
- Hit 1 home run
- The Iron Man
- Difficulty: All-Star
- Tally 2 hits
- Tally 1 XBH
- The End Of The Streak
- Difficulty: All-Star
- Get on base 1 time
- 400th Career Home Run
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Hit 1 home run
- 3,000th Career Hit
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Tally 3 hits
As for collections:
- 8th Inning collection (+75 stars) – Collect all three 7th Inning bosses
- Awards Series players (+20) – Collect 12 Awards players
- Awards Torii Hunter (+20) – Collect Awards Hunter
- Awards Anthony Rendon (+20) – Collect Awards Rendon
- Awards Cal Ripken Jr. (+25) – Collect Awards Ripken Jr.
Bosses And Rewards
Above are the three bosses at 300 program stars.
Here are the mini bosses (or henchmen) at 150 program stars in the 7th Inning Program:
- Future Stars Sean Murphy
- Future Stars Mitch Keller
- Future Stars Ian Anderson
This program in total goes up to 900 stars, much like last month’s program.
Here are the rewards all the way up to 900 stars:
- 10 stars – The Show pack (x5)
- 20 stars – Diamond Gear Up choice pack
- 40 stars – Planet universal profile icon
- 60 stars – Diamond bat slam
- 80 stars – Duck Quacks stadium sound
- 100 stars – Headliners Set 48 pack
- 120 stars – 3,500 stubs
- 140 stars – Bling universal profile nameplate
- 150 stars – Henchman choice pack
- 160 stars – Classic stadium choice pack
- 180 stars – Just Late, Be Great home run call
- 200 stars – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack
- 220 stars – Headliners packs sets 1-31 (x2)
- 240 stars – Liquid Pour stadium sound
- 260 stars – Players League bat skin
- 280 stars – The Show pack (x5)
- 300 stars – 8th Inning boss choice pack
- 350 stars – 3,500 stubs
- 400 stars – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack (x2)
- 450 stars – The Show pack (x5), 3,000 stubs
- 500 stars – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack (x3)
- 550 stars – The Show pack (x20), 3,500 stubs
- 600 stars – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack (x5)
- 650 stars – The Show pack (x20), 3,500 stubs
- 700 stars – Ducks On The Pond choice pack
- 750 stars – 7,500 stubs
- 800 stars – Ducks On The Pond choice pack
- 850 stars – Ballin’ Is A Habit pack (x5)
- 900 stars – Beach Ball choice pack
Prestige
You will need to prestige these cards like the others, which is via online stat missions that will take major time commitments. Here are the stats required:
- Prestige Pudge Rodriguez
- Tally 150 at-bats
- Tally 98 hits
- Tally 32 XBH
- Tally 56 RBI
- Tally 58 runs
- Prestige Ty Cobb
- Tally 150 at-bats
- Tally 124 hits
- Tally 39 XBH
- Tally 63 RBI
- Tally 74 runs
- Prestige Clayton Kershaw
- Tally 49 IP
- Tally 98 IP
- Tally 60 strikeouts
- Tally 119 strikeouts
